


Getting To The Point

by afteriwake



Series: Simple As It Should Be [11]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 12:51:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's about time one of the two of them got to the point...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting To The Point

"So. This is your place." Maka walked around, looking at the shelves lining his walls. "A lot more books than I thought there'd be."

"You don't think I'm a cultured and well-read guy?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I _know_ you're at least well-read. I've had conversations with you over books before." She laid her hand on a slim hardcover. "I just didn't think you'd have so many."

He shrugged. "I know everyone expects this place to be bachelor pad central, but mostly, this is where I go to relax. Sometimes, that means watching a game. Other times, it means catching up on something I bought to read and never got around to."

She pulled out the book she'd fingered. "Can I borrow this one?"

"Which one is it?" He came over and looked at it, then looked at her with a grin. "101 Damnations. You'll breeze through that one and laugh all the way through, I promise. It's all about--"

"Pet peeves," Maka said, nodding. "I started to read it and lost my own copy."

Danny quirked up an eyebrow but said nothing. He was finding out lately just from hanging around her that he had more in common with Kaile Maka than he'd thought he had.

She flipped through the book. No one ever saw her settle down to read, and Danny was taking a moment to appreciate the view. He knew it wouldn't last; she'd be right back to her normal self, full of questions and snark and...

This was a pretty new side. He'd known her for years, thought he'd known her well. Maybe he hadn't. He kept quiet, though, just waiting for her to start in with the line of questioning.

But something curious happened. She flipped through page after page, sometimes her lip curling up a little at the edge, sometimes it pulling into a full smile, but she didn't stop reading. It was as though his presence in his own apartment wasn't that important; he was pretty sure he could have just left her there alone and she'd have been perfectly content.

"I know you're watching me," she said without looking up. "You can stop any time now."

His own lips curled into a smile and he went to stand behind her, taking the book out of her hands. "Fine. Then you can read this later. I promised you a beer, I intend to keep my promise."

"What if I said I wanted to read it now?"

"Maka, I already said you could borrow it."

"I know, but it's a lot more fun to barter with you."

"I seriously doubt you'd be up to my terms," Danny said quietly.

"What, Messer?"

"Nothing," he said. Maka opened her mouth to reply, but instead said nothing. "Anyway...anything else you want to borrow, feel free. I'll get the drinks."

Maka got up and walked around his bookshelves again, pausing every few minutes to look more closely at a book, finally picking two other ones. She knew Danny had come back out of his kitchen and was back to staring, but she didn't care.

He was trying to mend their friendship and figure out if there was anything more to it than that. He wasn't saying that, but she knew. And if that meant he was going to end up staring at her a lot, she thought as she pulled a third book out of the slot where he'd put it before turning around, she could deal with that.

\---

A few days later she placed the four books on his desk. "All done."

"Damn, Maka. How'd you read so fast?"

She shrugged. "Didn't have much to do. As you've noted before, I'm not exactly the most sociable of detectives around here. You haven't been either, lately."

He risked a glance in the general direction of the rest of the labs, thankful Flack or Lindsay wasn't in his view. "Yeah, well, people are feeling they need to take sides, and most aren't on mine."

"Do they need to be?"

Danny shrugged. "No. Momentary lapse in judgment on my part--"

"Fueled by a lot of testosterone," Maka added.

"Yeah. Won't happen again, even if I need to transfer out."

Maka looked shocked and knocked one of Danny's books off the pile and onto his lap. "You're serious, Messer?"

"Flack's a better cop than I am, Monroe's a better scientist. If anyone should go, it should be me."

She rolled her eyes slightly, more to cover up the shock which was still reverberating in her. "Oh, God, don't pull the martyr card crap."

"What? It's just facts. Aren't facts what we deal with?"

She sighed and shook her head. "You know what we need?"

"What?"

She gestured to the books. "A night where neither of us are at home reading. A night where one of us is not trying to make up for the other person dragging them home drunk. A night where one of us is not trying to get the other drunk so that they'll forget a bad day in the first place. We need one evening where we just go out to have...fun."

"You mean like one of those things they call 'dates,' Maka?" His lips crept up in a smile.

"Yeah, one of those," she said, staring at him.

He stared back and the smile started to slip, just a little, to be replaced by a confused and slightly amused look. "You're asking me out on a date."

"Well, I'm not going to wait around for you to ask me. I'll be old and grey by the time _that_ happens." She sighed slightly. "Let's try it. If it doesn't work, no harm, no foul."

He thought about it. "One thing...if we want to have it where there's 'no harm, no foul' as you put it...we just go out and enjoy ourselves and that's it. No moves."

"If you can make it through a date without making a move on me, Messer, I'll dress up for work or something."

"I like the sound of that." His smile came back and he finally took notice of the book in his lap. He picked it up and looked at it. "You like Piers Anthony?"

"I was more surprised _you_ liked him, though with some of your bad puns..." she said, heading towards his office door. "Tonight all right?"

"Yeah."

"I should be free at eight. I'll wait in here for you if you aren't done." She walked out and he stared after her. This was not what he'd expected. As much as they had teased each other over the years, flirted a bit, he hadn't expected either of them to actually come out and make an actual _move_.

He cast a glance out into the labs and just so happened to catch Lindsay's eye. She looked at him for a moment and gave him a quizzical look before hurrying off. He turned back to his own work, a mound of paperwork, and sighed. He really, honestly hoped things were going to work out for the best over this. He and Flack weren't friends, he and Lindsay weren't really friends, and now there was the chance he and Maka were going to screw up their friendship, too.

This had all better be worth it, he thought to himself as he picked up the Piers Anthony book and flipped it open for a moment. Because if it wasn't, that transfer was going to look _very_ appealing...


End file.
